BASEBALL: Temple City rebounds with 7-3 victory over San Marino

By Scott Galetti, Staff Writer
SAN MARINO - Temple City High School's baseball team hasn't quite learned how to do things the easy way this season.
The Rams entered Thursday's pivotal matchup with San Marino following a heartbreaking loss at home to South Pasadena a day earlier.
The Rams, suddenly looking up to the Titans in the standings, took an early lead and rode the left arm of starting pitcher Brian Dearth to post a 7-3 victory at McNamee Field.
Temple City (16-7, 8-5) is a half-game behind San Marino for second place. With two games to play, however, the Rams hold the tiebreaker with the Titans (13-5-1, 7-5) and La Canada (11-7, 6-5 entering Thursday's action).
"This is huge for us in the sense that we were thinking tiebreakers," Temple City coach Barry Bacon said. "We lost a tiebreaker to South Pas, we have a tiebreaker with La Canada and San Marino and we get a chance to go after Monrovia at the end of the year."
The Rams made things easy on Dearth by scoring three runs in the first inning on a single by Williams Do, a bases-loaded walk to Brandon Pultz and a fielder's choice.
"We put up three runs in the first inning, and with Brian Dearth on the mound, we pretty much liked our chances," Bacon said.
Dearth (5-2) struggled with his command at times, but did enough to earn the win. He allowed three runs on five hits to go along with three strikeouts and six walks.
"He wasn't his best today, but he pitched very well and pitched his way out of a couple of situations," Bacon said.
The senior allowed a run in the fourth inning on an infield single by Michael Thompson, but got Steven Wright to ground into a force out. He later gave up two runs in the fifth on a double to center by Chandler Caldwell and a single to left by Peter Brunette, but got Thompson to ground out to end the threat. Rams reliever Jordan Halladay retired all six batters he faced to seal the victory.
"We handed him the ball (Wednesday) and he kept us close, and today he did even better," Bacon said. "That's huge that we don't have to go to a third pitcher. He did what he was supposed to do."
Dearth, who had a double, and Christian Cano each collected two hits as the Rams outhit the Titans 8-5. Kyle Wilkinson led the way with two runs batted in.
Caldwell had two hits, including a RBI double to lead San Marino.
"We definitely had opportunities and had guys on base in a lot of innings, but you give a good pitcher a cushion, it's going to be awfully tough fighting your way back," San Marino coach Mack Paciorek said.
Albert Wu (1-1) worked two-plus innings and allowed four runs on four hits in the loss.
"What happens is we forget about today and move onto tomorrow and we're ready to go," Paciorek said.
The Titans, who have three games remaining, play at La Canada today. The Rams will be back in action on Tuesday at Blair.